HEART BREAKER.

I am so lucky that one of my sweetest girlfriends happens to be an amazing photographer. She always makes time for us, and since my kids know her well, their true personalities really shine through and she captures them perfectly so.

Brother's one year shoot was no exception. Have a look for yourself...

And those are only some of my favs. This little lover surely melts my heart...

TWELVE MONTHS. ONE YEAR.

Life with a one year old is not much different from life with an eleven month old. At nine months old, Brother started cruising everywhere, and I thought for sure we'd have an early walker. But here we are three months later, and he's still cruising along. As long as he has something to hold onto, he'll move on his feet. But nothing steady in sight and he'll drop like a fly and crawl right on to where ever it was he was going.

I refuse to think of him as a toddler until he starts walking, which I am sure is not too far away.

Here's what else he's up to at twelve months....one year...which reminds me, when do I stop referring to his age in months?!?

*He points to everything. I'm loving his new form of communication as he is able to tell us exactly what he wants.

*Has eight teeth (four on top, four on bottom), and is getting his top molars. They have been a real beast, and we haven't even seen them peek through yet. Just lots of swollen gums and a little boy who is refusing to eat solid food. Poor thing.

*Stands on his own quite often, but if you call attention to what he's doing, again, he'll drop like a fly.

*Took his first steps (three or so, to be exact) to Nugget about two weeks ago. Hasn't had a lot of interest since.

*Is a dancing machine. He even has some pretty sweet moves, which I have no idea where he got them from. He can bop up and down while simultaneously shaking his head, which is really hard to do. I've tried. It's kinda like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. He also does this thing where he throws his arms back, leans forward, and bops his upper body. Told ya he had some sweet moves.

*Has recently been pretending to talk on the phone. He'll put one to his ear, then make a series of high pitched noises, which I presume is his 'talking' voice.

*Nugget had a doll brush lying out on the floor the other day, and he crawled over to it, picked it up and started brushing his hair. So smart, I tell ya.

***See Nugget in the background? She has lived, and I mean truly LIVED in either her Snow White or Ariel dress for the past two weeks. What gives?

*Waves bye-bye more consistently now. But instead of a subtle open and close of the hand, its a full on back and forth wave of his whole arm.

*He signs 'all done', which is similar to his wave, but uses both arms.

*Loves sister's baby dolls. He will snuggle them and 'pat pat' them on their heads. I have no shame in a boy who likes dolls. Just sayin'.

*LOVES his Daddy. When he hears him come home from work, he bolts to the kitchen to greet him. Of course he loves me too, but he has to as he's still on the boob :)

*Sleeping has been all over the place, and who can blame him with all the yucky stuff he's had going on lately? He's a good little napper, two a day, averaging two hours a piece or so. He also wakes up about once a night. I don't know if he's truly hungry (probably not) but it's just easiest to nurse him and everyone gets back to sleep quickly.



*We introduced whole milk, but were advised to back off when he got sick with the flu bug. We can reintroduce in a few days, at which point I hope to wean him from nursing during the day. He shows no signs of stopping, so we shall see how that goes.

Wearing Daddy's glasses

That's about all that's new with the happy man for this month. 'Till next time, folks...



BIRTHDAY FUN.

Has it really been a week since I last posted something? Yikes. It's been on my to-do list every night, but somehow or another, it gets pushed to the wayside while I need to finish this, fold that, clean up over there, make this...you know how it goes. Right?

The little bug Brother had on Valentine's Day quickly spread to Nick the next day. I was on pins and needles, wincing at every turn, just waiting for Nugget and I to join in the barf fest. But you know what? Somehow, perhaps by the grace of God, she and I never got it. Tell me how that one happened? Maybe it had something to do with a container of Lysol wipes, vigorous hand washing, and load upon load of laundry. Oh yes, and prayer too.

Anyhow, our household has regained its normalcy, leaving me with time to catch up on other things, which leads me to Brother's birthday (pre-barf fest).

I love when my kids' birthdays fall on weekend days, and we can all be together to celebrate. I always feel like i'm cheating Nick if we're out celebrating while he is hard at work. But Brother's first birthday fell on a Sunday, lucky us. We had an exciting day planned, and started off with a visit to the zoo. What one year old can resist? I took Nugget there on her first birthday too, and you know what? I like following mini traditions like that, plus it's harder to forget that way.

I am ashamed to admit that we were already twenty minutes from home when I realized I had left my camera behind. What kind of mother does that? On her baby's first birthday? Apparently me, that's who. Thank goodness for my cell phone, which had to act as a stand in for the day. Quality can not even begin to compare, but hey, it was better than nothing.

Brother enjoyed watching the monkeys...

and fish...

and getting a birds eye view down the Tropics Trail...

Once we had our fill of the zoo, we headed over to Davannis and enjoyed pizza for lunch.

We were pushing naptime, but we squeezed in a stop to Barnes and Noble before heading home. The little man loves books, so we only saw it appropriate. And of course we didn't walk away empty handed; they each got a few new books to enjoy.

We played the rest of the day away at home, resting up and exploring all Brother's new gifts from his party the day before.

A fun, fun day indeed, and i'm so glad we could all be together for it.

ONE IS A HOOT.

Brother turned one on Sunday. And I'm still not sure how we got from there to here so quickly.

Birth.day:

Birthday:

On Saturday we pulled off his highly anticipated first birthday party. Everything came together quite nicely, and once again I was in my element making it special and memorable. Wait, memorable? That one must be for me, as he is never gonna recall the day ;)

Anyways, I knew from the time he was still in the womb that his first celebration was going to have an owl theme. As does his nursery. I really like owls, if you couldn't already tell. And it's just so fun for me to go off the beaten store bought path, and see what I can create on my own.

It all started with finding this perfect little invitation from Pear Tree Greetings, and then I made everything else to compliment around it.

No one can say that I don't give attention to the details. That's my favorite part.

Hair clips for the girls:

Dinnerware:

First year photo banner:

Balloons:

Bib, made by Mama:

All together:

Nugget and I worked together on a special little project, cause sister likes to create too. (Hence the crooked stickers.)

No party is complete without cupcakes, a candle, and some singing, as we learned at yesterday's tea party.

Brother couldn't wait to get his hands on one, so Mama had to hold it while we sang to him. Safety first.

First cupcake? Done.

And of course he had oodles of presents to dive into.

A paintbrush from Auntie Angie, Uncle Jesse, and cousins.  How perfect!

And some sweet little parting gifts to say Thanks for coming. Owls with (gummy) worms in their tummies. Cause you know, owls eat worms.

The party sure was a hoot. Pics from his actual birthday to come. Stay tuned.